Overview of Quantitative Methods

Introduction to Quantitative Research – The PDF is an article that introduces quantitative research.

Overview of Quantitative Research – This is a narrated PowerPoint presentation that provides an excellent overview of quantitative research and the issues that will be discussed in these Research Ready modules.

Quantitative Data: A Basic Introduction – This is a link to a SlideShare presentation that offers and overview to quantitative research and data.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative Research – This link provides lists of the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative research.

Research Methods – This resource describes the basic characteristics of quantitative research and gives an overview of methodologies, as well as a comparison with qualitative research.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research – The link contains a chart that describes the characteristics of quantitative research and compares them the characteristics of qualitative research.

When to Use Quantitative Methods

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research - When to Use Which?  - The link provides a brief overview of when to choose qualitative research methods over quantitative ones and provides additional links.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research - The link is an overview of the two methods and describes when to choose each method.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research - The site contains a side-by-side comparison chart that displays the differences between these two methods.

Introduction to Quantitative Research – The PDF is an article that introduces quantitative research.

Overview of Quantitative Research – This is a narrated PowerPoint presentation that provides an excellent overview of quantitative research and the issues that will be discussed in these Research Ready modules.

Writing Research Questions and Hypotheses

Writing Good Quantitative Research Questions – This web resources describes the 3 main types of research questions and provides examples of each.

Quantitative Research Questions – This is a resource that discusses the various types of research questions as well as the difference between a research question and a research hypothesis.

Planning My Research Question or Hypothesis – This resource contains a link to a PowerPoint presentation and a series of tutorials that contain examples and tips for writing research questions and hypotheses.

Developing Hypothesis and Research Questions – The presentation offers an in-depth look at hypotheses and research questions and how they relate to the overall project and drive the research process.

The Relationship Between the Research Question, Hypotheses, Specific Aims, and Long-Term Goals of the Project – This link will explain how the research question should be developed to guide the creation of the hypotheses and the research project.

Variables and Operational Definitions

Variables – The resources describe the basic types of variables in a research study, provides definitions and offers examples.

What are examples of variables in research? – These resources provide definitions and examples. (Dead Link)

Variables – This link offers definitions of variables and related terms and discusses traits that are important in the variables used in research study.

Identify Key Variable and Research Design – The resources discuss types of variables and how the identification of the variables is a key first step in creating the research design.

Variables – The link provides definitions and compares the six most common types of variables.

Operational Definition and Level of Measurement – This resource discusses operational definitions and level of measurement for dependent variables.

Operational Definitions – The website defines and discusses operational definitions of variables.

Key Issues in Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research: Reliability and Validity – The resources define and discusses reliability and validity and discusses threats to each.

Validity and Reliability Issues in Educational Research – This journal article discusses the importance of validity and reliability in educational and social research.

Generalizability and Transferability – The resource provides basic defines as well as additional links on the right side that further explore generalizability and transferability in research.

Falsifiability – This link leads to a brief discussion of falsifiability in research.

Replication – This resource provides a brief discussion of the importance of replicability of research results and contains links that further examine the topic.

Quantitative Approaches

Planning the Methodology – The Quantitative Pathway – The link provides a description of the four types of quantitative approaches and examples of each.

Quantitative Design – The resource describes quantitative research approaches and examples.

Choosing an appropriate study design – This is a link to a presentation that describes the factors to consider when choosing the appropriate approach for quantitative research.

Quantitative Scales of Measurement

Scales of Measurement – This link provides a simple definition for each of the four types of scales of measurement.

Measurement Scales in Social Science Research – The following provides basic information regarding primary scales of measurement.

Measurement Scales – The following resource is a brief and concise description of measurement scales and the corresponding statistics.

4 Levels of Measurement in Social Science Research – This link discusses scales of measurements and provides examples of each.

Quantitative Data

Examples of Data Collection Methods – Following is a link to a chart of data collection methods that examines types of data collection, advantages, and challenges.

Research Methods – The following link describes compares qualitative and quantitative research methodology including a discussion of data collection and types of data.

Data Collection – Quantitative Research – This resource provides links to information relating to a variety of ways to collect quantitative data.

Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection Methods - The link below provides specific example of instruments and methods used to collect quantitative data.

Sampling Methods for Quantitative Research

Examples of Data Collection Methods – Following is a link to a chart of data collection methods that examines types of data collection, advantages, and challenges.

Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection Methods - The link below provides specific example of instruments and methods used to collect quantitative data.

Quantitative Research Design: Sampling and Measurement - The link below defines sampling and discusses types of probability and nonprobability sampling.

Principles of Sociological Inquiry – Qualitative and Quantitative Methods – The following resources provides a discussion of sampling methods and provides examples.

Analyzing Quantitative Data

Evaluation Toolkit – Analyze Quantitative Data – This resource provides an overview of four key methods for analyzing quantitative data.

Analyzing Quantitative Data – The following link discusses the use of several types of descriptive statistics to analyze quantitative data.

Analyze Data – This website discusses how to determine the type of data analysis needed, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and useful software packages.

Analyze This! – Follow through the pages of this comprehensive discussion of quantitative data and data analysis to learn more.

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics – This resource provides an overview of these types of statistical analyses and how they are used.

Ethics & Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research - The following link provides a discussion of the process of designing quantitative research and the steps necessary to ensure that there will be no ethical violations.

What is an IRB and its Purpose? - What does IRB stand for? What is the purpose of an IRB and how does a researcher know when they need to use it?

Ethics in Research – The Web Center for Social Research Methods - Some of the key terminology associated with research ethics are described on this site, as well as a brief history of ethical considerations in research.

What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important - Ethical concerns must also be considered when designing a research project. The following website discusses common codes and policies regarding ethics in research.

Ethical Issues in Conducting Research – The following link is PDF that offers a comprehensive discussion of ethical issues in conducting research.

Introduction to Quantitative Software

Analyzing Quantitative Data – This page lists and describe three of the most used statistical software packages for use with quantitative data.

Analyze Data – This website discusses how to determine the type of data analysis needed, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and useful software packages.

Learning to Analyze Quantitative Data – This resource contains a discussion of SPSS software and example of its use, as well as screenshots of the program.

Free Software for Statistics and Research – Following is a list of free statistical software programs that may be useful for analyzing data.